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Topic: A cut out and a mystery (Read 819 times)

I promised JP (who kindly talked me through this cut out yesterday morning) some pictures.

We found this hive at the front of a home deep in the floor joists between the first and second floors, so we removed it from the ceiling. Fortunately, the homeowner hired a contractor for the deconstruction and reconstruction because the job eventually got odd.

After this removal, we tackled what we thought was a second hive...also between the first and second floor joist but at the rear of the home. We immediately located 3 very fresh combs of honey and a few bees. No brood, no queen, no nothing. We removed the comb, and I sprayed Bee Quick to see if any other bees were hiding somewhere. Maybe 100 bees left through the entrance and clung to the outside brick.

I thought the remainder of this hive may be between living in the space between an ajoining stud, so we cut a small hole...nothing. I used the laser heat-sensor thingy...nothing. We put our ears to the walls, to the ceiling, to the floor...nothing. At the homeowner's request, we cut a hole between the ajoining floor joists...nothing. We went upstairs and cut a hole between wall studs above...nothing. A few holes later...still nothing. We removed some siding from the outside of the house...nothing.

I kept thinking that if I were JP or Hardwood, I could probably find this hive, but I'm not JP or Hardwood, and I never told anyone I could locate any hidden bees. I simply said I would remove the bees we found. So, we stuffed insulation everywhere and closed it up.

Friends: Why would we have found only 3 very new combs of honey when the homeowner says those bees have been there for months?

-Liz

P.S. These pictures do not show how messy this thing got. We're in such a honey flow right now that this thing was honey honey honey everywhere.

Psalm 19:9-10The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Good job! I couldn't say about the small colony without looking at it but do you think it could have been an after swarm and the virgin queen didn't make it back from mating??

Scott

Logged

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

add a stack of 4X4 tarps to your kit :-D don't think you can have to many of those on hand!

new comb and no queen? wonder if the bees drifted back to the original hive if/when the queen didn't make it back.

Logged

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....